12/30/2010
Patricia – what is your problem with some of these crazy entries? These places are an hour from each other and have absolutely no connection in any way. I didn’t say one word about Shaker Village being in Harrodsburg and then you gave us this weird “Beaumont Inn & Harrodsburg” entry. I gave you a break on that one. But this one defies any sense of logic. I thought I could trust you again, Patricia. I thought we were through with these little games of yours. You’re just lucky Daniel is obsessed with cars right now, so we went to the darned museum and the caves.
First, the Corvette Museum – the only museum in the world dedicated to a single vehicle. It is filled with Corvettes. Lots of Corvettes were parked outside. Lesson: Corvette people like looking at other Corvettes.
The Corvette Museum didn’t do much for Laura and I (and probably not Philip) but for Daniel it was a religious experience. You have to understand Daniel’s preoccupation with cars to understand the unadulterated ecstasy this place gave him. “Car! Car! Car! Car!” he yelled while pointing at each vehicle. Every time he saw a new one it was a huge surprise and the gleeful explosion happened again. Unfortunately we literally had to drag him kicking and screaming when we left.
We then made our journey to Mammoth Cave – the world’s longest underground cavern system. We got a little lost and thought we would never make it. The GPS tried to send us up somebody’s driveway. Then his two huge dogs ran out and wanted to get run over. Eventually we found an alternate route. We got a little worried when we started seeing signs labeled “Warning: Road ends in water.” Like sensible people we just kept driving forward, but wouldn’t you know? The signs weren’t kidding. However, there’s a little ferry that moves back and forth whenever a car comes by. I say ferry, but it reminded me of a supped-up version of that little raft the Grim Reaper takes people across the River Styx. Nevertheless, it took about 15 seconds to cross the river and I then nominated the ferryman (stuck in a tollbooth-like control room) with the “Most Mind-numbingly Tedious Job” award.
They offer various tours of the cave, but due to having two kids with us and the fact that Laura is pregnant again (surprise!) we opted for the least strenuous. With Daniel strapped to my back and Philip strapped to Laura’s front we bought our tickets. We waited outside for the tour to begin. The ranger tour guide gave us a little spiel and right before we got on the bus he said, “Oh, you can’t bring a back carrier.” Now you tell us! Why didn’t the ticket lady tell me that? I was able to quickly run back to the car and drop off the carrier. I was going to have to carry Daniel in my arms the whole way. Good thing I’m so buff.
After the short bus ride we reached the cave entrance. Steve from Blue’s Clues (I swear he was our tour guide) explained that the covered overhang had been built for Ronald Reagan during a presidential visit. He seemed a little bitter about that since he said they never needed an overhang before.
The cave entrance was sealed by a huge door in a concrete bunker. Going inside did feel like entering a sci-fi movie. Artificial lights allowed us to see some pretty amazing formations, the most famous being the Frozen Niagara – a huge limestone cascade that looks like a stone waterfall. At one point Steve turned out all the lights so we could experience absolute darkness. They say in absolute darkness you can wave your hand in front of your face and not be able to see it. It’s true. I tried.
Steve brought us to a stopping point and then allowed us to backtrack at our own pace, which was pretty neat. We did allow Daniel to walk around a little bit. He enjoyed pointing out stalagmites and stalactites, but I don’t think he knows the difference.
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